The Deserted
by GeneralNoodle
Summary: The UNSC has abandoned a small moon colony as it was good for it's natural resources. The Covenant have decided to do a raid on the moon and send a relatively small unit to raid it. The remaining humans must rely on guerilla tactics to drive the covenant away from their home.


Plot: The UNSC has abandoned a small moon colony as it was good for it's natural resources. The Covenant have decided to do a raid on the moon and send a relatively small unit to raid it. The remaining humans must rely on guerilla tactics to drive the covenant away from their homeA stiff cool breeze blows through a demolished, war torn ruin of a former human city. Where there were once thriving markets and businesses, now remain a pile of ash and very ground that men, women and children alike walked on is now a glowing red hot hellscape. A glass like substance coats the ground for miles on end. The hot ash combined with the winds create a powerful storm that will blow for miles without stopping. From a distance it looks more like hell than home.

On a barren and dry hill is a Covenant Unggoy major and his squad. The methane breathing creatures were short in stature in comparison to their elite commanders. The unggoy were stubby with tree trunk like skin with stumpy legs and a large body. The major's armor was a bright, crimson-red while the rest of the pack donned the usual orange armor all minors wore. The squad wandered their way through the empty, abandoned streets, searching for any survivors as their superiors focused on their glassing

operations.

"Hey captain, you think we'll find any pathetic human survivors here?" One of the minors asked.

"If anyone even survived you idiot. Why the hell are we even down here?! It's not like anybody even survived! This place is a total dump anyway! Who would stay here? Fah! Let's just get this stupid raid over with team! I see a large market square up ahead! Let's see if it has anything valuable!" The major spouted. The grunt team made their way forward towards the large market square ahead.

The square was enclosed in a massive area inside of the entire market area, with a wall built around it and the only way in was through sets of double doors and a roof built over it to keep it sheltered from bad weather and natural disasters. This area held all the most valuable products that were being sold, from power conductors to exotic foods to even civilian firearms. Inside of the market square was a small unit of marines and a few civilians. The marines were left on the planet by the UNSC to serve as security forces for the city as they did not have their own police. The scattered humans took shelter there before the market was glassed, as the square was spared from the glassing just barely.

A single marine armed only with an assault rifle stood at the closest doorway, leaning against the wall as he checked his magazine. One of the doors was stuck partially open. From behind the doors, the marine could hear the voices of grunts slowly drawing closer and more audible.

He peered out from the partially open door and spotted the grunt squad, who were busy babbling to one another to notice him, and gasped. He saw the shiny red armor of the major, armed with a needler, and hid himself once again. He left his post and ran over to the captain of the unit, who sat on a metal stool scratching his head.

"Sir! Sir!" The marine shouted. The captain turned his head towards the marine, who garnered his attention.

"Would you quiet down you numbskull?! What is it?" The captain replied in his deep, gruff tone.

"Sorry cap! But we have a squad of unggoy headed this way!"

"Wait, what? Why the hell are there Covenant ground units here anyway?"

"I-I don't know sir! But there's only a few of us, and those unarmed civilians! What do we do?"

"Hmm...Go tell the civilians to hide, and get the other two soldiers here now from their posts! That's an order!"

"Yes sir!"

The marine wandered off towards the group of civilians huddled together around a pile of junk. The marine approached them cautiously, keeping his weapon lowered.

"You three, go hide somewhere. We have approaching hostiles. We'll take care of them though. Now go." He said to them. The three stood up and went to go hide somewhere. The marine then went to gather the other two. Meanwhile the captain cocked his magnum and went to hide behind a stand while watching the doors carefully.

"You'd think that we would land on a methane friendly planet just once!" yelled a minor in the back of the line. "Do you think that the humans might have one of those food nipples with the delicious creamy milk in them?"

The alien's discussions are cut short when precise pistol fire cuts down a minor unggoy in the back row. "Oh no!" "We're all doomed!" The creature's cries echo throughout the streets. The Unggoy scatter like roaches in the light and get grazed and gunned down in the process.

"Get your wits about you and shoot back!" Yelled the major while blindly firing his needler. The marine captain fired his magnum at the grunts relentlessly, with the three marines coming up to assist him in gunning the others down.

"I need another mag!" Yelled one of the marines as he tosses the empty magazine at a grunt who was in the middle or throwing a plasma grenade. The glowing sphere landed on the disoriented grunt's chest. The alien flailed around in panic before expanding and blowing up into a chunky, soupy mess.

"We're out of mags for the pistol, son." Said the captain. "Just some MA2B mags and some frags left it seems."

The marine grabbed a fragmentation grenade and threw it near the Unggoy's general direction.

"Run!" screamed the major. A single grunt took the brunt of the attack and was sent flying through the air from the pressurized gas in his tank. It was quite a comical sight to behold.

Two more grunts were hit with shrapnel but they would survive. The major motioned for what remained of his former platoon now squad to follow him in retreat.

"Let's get out of here!" The major screamed.

"That's right you bastards! Don't come back!" Yelled one of the marines. The captain sighed and stood up slowly.

"We got lucky. If there were elites with them we would have may have had a real challenge and gotten ourselves killed."

A civilian piped up and said; "That man just saved our life and you complain about it?"

One of the marines grumbled and replied with; "A few of them managed to get away sir! They'll report our position to their superiors for sure! We need to do something, fast!"

The captain started to look guilty and saddened as he had realized the gravity of the situation.

"We were already struggling...But now we're going to be doomed..."


End file.
